"Harvard was never known for having beautiful pages," Steen said.
Since the study only tabulated users for the month of May, periodic fluctuations in use may have affected the results, Ward said.
"Just like a TV show, just because someone watches Home Improvement, it doesn't mean that show will be the leader two weeks later," he said.
In addition to statistics about the number of unique visitors to Harvard's Web site, RelevantKnowledge obtained information about the demographics of the visitors concerning age, gender, houselhold size, region, place of access, education and professional status, Ward said.
This information comes with a price--about $1000, Ward said.
Robert J. Sales, associate director of the MIT News Office, said MIT was pleased with the rankings.
"It shows that the Web site is relevant to the [MIT] community and it gives Harvard something to strive for," Sales said.